Tessie the Huntress does it again!

There's not a lot of live prey in an apartment in Florida, but Tessie
managed to find some... I opened the cupboard in the livingroom and
she darted in, then out again - only when she came out she wasn't
alone!

The apartment next door to us has been vacant the whole time we've
lived here, and the builders are in there this week renovating, and
they scared the bugs (ick) and one of them crawled through a hole or
something...

I didn't see Tessie dart out of the cupboard so I was calling for her,
and John said she was in the bedroom with a roach. In the twenty
seconds she was in the closet she managed to find a roach and grab
it... then she ran around the house with it in her mouth growling her
head off and saying 'this is MINE! Don't you DARE try to take it away
from me!'

I thought it must be a little roach and she would eat it, but no, it
was far more than a mouthful... she took it out to the livingroom and
I heard a ton of growling, and when I got curious enough to look down
the corridor and see what she was up to she was playing with it and it
was HUGE! What's more - IT WASN'T DEAD! Ick! Ick! Ick! Ick! Ick!

One small mercy - at least it was saturday morning and John was home
so I could yell for him to come and deal with it! And he looked in the
cupboard in case it brought friends, but there wasn't anything
there... its crawled through from next door because the workmen have
been in there this week hammering and banging and making a racket and
it was disturbed (nobody's lived in that apartment since we moved in
two years ago!)

Tessie got a bath for her pains just to make sure she didn't have any
roach poison on her... she is NOT AMUSED, but she's clean

Next we're going to have to call the pest control people who used to
come and spray all the apartments and ask them to come back - they
used to come around once a month while everyone was renting but now
it's up to the individual owners so we haven't been sprayed in 12
months.

I can't STAND bugs

We too live in FL and the kitties have access to the back yard (thanks
to Cat-Fence-In). I've gotten many lizards and a few snakes, even a
few frogs, but thankfully no "palmetto bugs" ;-)

The fuzzies have now apparently moved on to locusts. I've rescued at
least 3 in the past few weeks (alerted thanks to the clacking sounds
those bugs make). I made a special contraption to safely catch the
bug/lizard/buffalo (whatever they drag in) and release it into the wild
beyond the fence.

Mich

MensaCat wrote---
I made a special contraption to safely catch the bug/lizard/buffalo
(whatever they drag in) and release it into the wild beyond the fence.

I must be easily ammused. I love it when Fleez gets hold of a
grasshopper. I take pictures. He thinks they're great until they play
dead and then he loses interest. Then I throw them outside. Some of
the smaller ones he eats, but most of the time they leave the house
traumatised, and occasionally missing a leaper leg, but otherwise all
right.

It is rather Roman of me, I guess. Must be the Italian in me. grin

Cheers,
Azy!


"From what I've heard one can sell anything on eBay. Broken pencils,
paperclips, and pictures of your ugly family may be money wasted, a
fortune rotting away in your cubicle. (Much like your life, really.)"
~Mr. Fleez


www.housecatwisdom.blogspot.com

Azy wrote:
MensaCat wrote---
I made a special contraption to safely catch the bug/lizard/buffalo
(whatever they drag in) and release it into the wild beyond the fence.

I must be easily ammused. I love it when Fleez gets hold of a
grasshopper. I take pictures. He thinks they're great until they play
dead and then he loses interest. Then I throw them outside. Some of
the smaller ones he eats, but most of the time they leave the house
traumatised, and occasionally missing a leaper leg, but otherwise all
right.

It is rather Roman of me, I guess. Must be the Italian in me. grin

Miranda loves grasshoppers. She became really good at catching them this
summer on the island. She would go into the long grass to drive them
out, then she would leap and pounce, and in one smooth move scoop them
into her mouth. Caliban, on the other hand, never learned that if you
pounce on a grasshopper, you do *not* lift your paws to peek at it. No
matter how slowly and carefully you lift your paws, the grasshopper
*will* jump as soon as it sees the opening.


--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.
Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

Marina wrote:
Miranda loves grasshoppers. She became really good at catching them this
summer on the island. She would go into the long grass to drive them
out, then she would leap and pounce, and in one smooth move scoop them
into her mouth. Caliban, on the other hand, never learned that if you
pounce on a grasshopper, you do *not* lift your paws to peek at it. No
matter how slowly and carefully you lift your paws, the grasshopper
*will* jump as soon as it sees the opening.

She *eats* them? Yet, she doesn't eat catfood. Has Caliban ever
managed to eat one?

It reminds me of Nikki and Frank's tale of the grasshopper that got
away.

Takayuki wrote:

She *eats* them? Yet, she doesn't eat catfood. Has Caliban ever
managed to eat one?

It reminds me of Nikki and Frank's tale of the grasshopper that got
away.

I would see Miranda heading for the tall grass, where the grasshoppers
hung out, with a purposeful look on her face. I think she really liked
the taste of them, and would go to have a snack, just as a hoomin would
go to the fridge to get a little snack.

I don't think Caliban ever managed it, but I have seen him eat bugs in
the enclosure here in town.


--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.
Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

On 2006-08-26, Karen AKA Kajikit penned:

I thought it must be a little roach and she would eat it, but no, it
was far more than a mouthful... she took it out to the livingroom
and I heard a ton of growling, and when I got curious enough to look
down the corridor and see what she was up to she was playing with it
and it was HUGE! What's more - IT WASN'T DEAD! Ick! Ick! Ick! Ick!
Ick!

Eww!

I've never seen Oscar eat a bug, although DH reports he's seen her eat
moths.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

Monique Y. Mudama wrote---
I've never seen Oscar eat a bug, although DH reports he's seen her eat
moths.


Fleez loves moths! Moths and fireflies. They are his next-in-lines to
grasshoppers, which in our parts are a seasonal delicacy. Then they're
all kind'a seasonal when you consider that the only one we get in the
winter is the occasional moth. He's just a freak, and I've come to
accept it. After all, he is /my/ cat. grin

Cheers,
Azy!

"From what I've heard one can sell anything on eBay. Broken pencils,
paperclips, and pictures of your ugly family may be money wasted, a
fortune rotting away in your cubicle. (Much like your life, really.)"
~Mr. Fleez

www.housecatwisdom.blogspot.com

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

Eww!

I've never seen Oscar eat a bug, although DH reports he's seen her eat
moths.


Rusty loves to catch house flies and eat them. I used to hold him up so
he could get to the
fly on the ceiling. Was I a good slave or what? But I don't do that
anymore. Even skinny
Rusty is a bit much for my shoulders these days.

Winnie

Winnie wrote--
Rusty loves to catch house flies and eat them.

OH! Flies are disgusting, but Fleas will eat them without a thought
about it! Once there was a fly buzzing about around the mirror while I
was getting ready for work, and he hit that counter so fast I nearly
dropped my curling Iron in the sink! It was so nasty:
Jump-bat-bite-crunch, and it was GONE! I must admit I was happy it was
gone, but I was also a bit disgusted with his hairy-lippedness.

Cheers,
Azy!

"Housecat Wisdom will be changing. Hopefully you will like the changes,
and hopefully they will encourage you to visit more than once weekly."
~Mr. Fleez

www.housecatwisdom.blogspot.com